Embodying female dissent in Sanditon: The case of Esther Denham’s two bodies

Abstract

This article discusses the visual representation of Esther Denham, one of the female characters in Sanditon (2019, ITV, PBS), from the point of view of her displayed sartorial narrative, in relation to postmodern gender politics and female subjectivity. It argues that only a post-heritage adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished book manuscript would allow for such a narratological transposition of one of its characters into an outright Goth-inflected screen persona, characterized by outright dissent, interrogation, subversion, self-consciousness and ambiguity. The article foregrounds the crucial importance of Esther Denham’s embodied dress practice to get this message across by pointing out its necessarily diachronic screen costume rationale based on clothing items that are historically correct but which also resonate iconicity in our own time.